Reset iMac and use MacBook Pro

I don't see a downside. You will be using Migration Assistant, connecting the MacBook either in FireWire Target Disk Mode, or over a network.

The MacBook will act as the data source and this process does not change the source data (just copies it). So even in the worse case, you can decide to do it over again.

Also, depending on how your iMac "is a mess," you might want to use do one of the following two options first, before resorting to a complete +Erase and Install+.

(1) Just create a new admin user account on the iMac. You use System Preferences Accounts pane to do this

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html

See if your iMac works properly in the new account. If so, you can copy over just your user data from the old account, or you can use Migration Assistant to migrate data off the MacBook Pro to the new account.

(2) Do a reinstall of Leopard, but use the +Archive and Install+ option in Installer. This will give you a fresh Leopard system, but your data and user settings should remain intact. If you use this approach, you should make a backup of your user data on the iMac, just in case something goes wrong.

HI Tom,

Might be simpler to do an Erase and Install on the iMac then when that's finished use Firewire Target Disk Mode to copy files over.





Carolyn 🙂

Moving the iTunes stuff is fairly easy to understand, even if you do it manually. Sometimes, it sounds more complicated if I explain it in detail, so I'll just describe the overall process.

If you are using the default iTunes settings, all of you iTunes user and media files are located at

<user home folder>/Music/iTunes/

On the FROM Mac, locate that folder.

On the TO Mac, locate that folder.

(If you have changed the settings so that the iTunes music and other media files are stored in a different +iTunes Music+ folder location, please post back with details.)

With iTunes NOT running on either the FROM or TO Mac, copy that entire iTunes folder from the FROM Mac to the TO Mac. On the TO Mac, it needs to replace the existing iTunes folder.

Note: If the TO Mac already has different songs and other media in iTunes, you may not want to completely erase the existing iTunes folder by overwriting it with the iTunes folder from the FROM Mac. In that case, move it (the existing iTunes folder) somewhere else, or rename it to something other than iTunes.

So the idea is that the iTunes folder from the FROM Mac is now sitting at the same location on the TO Mac. When you run iTunes on the TO Mac, it should now look like iTunes on the FROM Mac.

Please post back with specific questions about what I described above.

Carolyn provided the link to the feature called FireWire Target Disk Mode in a previous reply post

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661

Start the the Mac you want to copy from as explained. When you connect it to the Mac you want to copy to using FireWire, it appears as a FireWire external drive. You can then copy over the files as desired.

You should be able to change the computer name at System Preferences Sharing pane.

You can call it whatever you want.

As a test, try creating a new admin user account on the iMac, in System Preferences Accounts pane

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html

Log out and log in to the new account. Try those things with issues. If they work properly in the new account, the issue is in your normal user account.

How did you end up moving your personal data files, BTW? What you moved may be related to this problem. For example, if you just moved your personal data files, I don't know why you had the earlier issue with the iMac's +computer name+ being the same as the MacBook Pro's name.

You could always enable the root user account TEMPORARILY to download the update and then disable it. Go to disk utility and click the unlock icon in the bottom left, then go to edit> enable root user, and then go to edit> change root password. At the login window you can click other and type the user root and your set password, and download the update as usual and install it. MAKE SURE that you disable the root account if you don't know what you are doing after you install the update by going to disk utility and unlocking, then going to edit> disable root user.

I think the folder where the software updates are saved arent letting you access them and that's why you can't save any updates.